monch

Spending time at my local wharf i have seen frigates on a few occasions but have never been able to catch one. They usually seem to be doing laps around a set route or 2 and chase poddy mullet and other small baitfish into the shallows. i have thrown all types of lures at them and all seem to get rejected. 2 & 3 inch soft plastics, 3-7g small metals, small poppers, sx-40's....i've run out of ideas. Also, since they seem to always be chasing poddies, do they actually eat them? i have not actually seen them catch any poddies yet, are they just playing around, chasing them for fun? I have not been able to get any live poddies to offer to them yet, should i bother trying? Are there any other baits that i can use to entice them?

I agree, quite a few i get have been hooked on the tentacles, but just on top of the bunch of tentacles closer to the eyes.

I would be up for any workshop that helps me catch fish. Like the ideas of bait collecting and also lure workshops, although i missed the soft plastics social, would be up for another SP or hardbody workshop

Not a good idea with the beer or any other alcohol, it dilates your blood vessels, making more blood flow to your extremities eg fingers, toes, skin and especially your face. Wouldn't want to enter an airport these days looking flushed in the face and glowing red hot on those thermo cameras.

Sounds like the dream i had the other day wat an awesome trip you guys had. Experimentation payed off with using the bream gear and kingie guts. Although, i wonder wat would have happened if you guys "wounded" one of your yakkas with a knife cut or two. Wouldn't have been nice for the yakka and it wouldn't live long after that with blood and guts streaming out of it, but may be put out of its misery by a big king inhaling it whole. After the "demonic" response from one of the yakkas, i'd be surprised if the kings didn't hit this wounded yakka thrashing about. Maybe something to try next time, bet the greenies wouldn't be too happy tho

Yeh i always use google maps/earth to suss out possible landbased fishing spots. If your looking for weed beds, just find rough dark patches in the water that are relatively close to shore. The bigger more uniform dark patches are deeper water. If you find both, could possibly be a good fishing spot

I have had a fairly high success rate of hooking a squid once it attacks my jig, just a short fairly fast lift of the rod and i've got it. Some of the bigger ones i have dropped, but most of the time i leave the squid jig in the water (or drop it back down) and the squid come back for it. I've had squid come back 3 or 4 times at the same jig, so next time you drop one, try keeping it in the water or let it sink a little more, jig it a few times and hopefully they'll come back and u'll have another shot.

Thanks for the info guys, very much appreciated. I have seen frigates, bonito and some tailor up around in the hacking before and have tried to throw lures at them, got 1 hookup on a frigate but my drag was set too high from rescuing my lure from weed before and when the frigate darted off, the line went PING. Other times i have had some follows but no takers, they are so fussy ><' I have also heard of kings and jewies being caught around the wharfs, i presume they are on the smaller side with the odd keeper or 2. I don't know how often these catches are tho.

Ahhhh.... now it all makes sense

The biggest flattie measure 87.5cm The other results have been posted up on the pirktek challenge's website go have a look: http://www.pirtekfishingchallenge.com.au/i...4&Itemid=22

Ohhh... Michael Guest himself asking for some more pics.. might be onto some good news here

Nice catch hodgey but shame that you caught it a day too early, especially since flatties are one of the target species for the challenge tomorrow At least you can count that one as practice for an even bigger specimen on the day of the challenge, good luck!

Very nice catch! By the way, how heavy was the gear you got it on?

Many thanks for the tips guys, i guess i'll have to focus abit more on bait fishing to hone up my skills. i've been able to get squid relatively often, tho not many. On good days i get about 3 or 4, usually only 1 or none at all but this is still more successful than with other species. Travelling all the way to maianbar to pump nippers is abit of a hassle for me so i have not tried it yet, but will do so when the conditions are right and when time permits. Are there any places other than maianbar to pump nippers? i've heard pumping nippers anywhere in gunnamatta bay is banned, dunno about other places. So far i've been trying to get live baits with bait jigs but have not had much success yet. I am able to get mullet on pieces of bread if they are around but yakkas are more difficult and slimies are harder still i also find that a single hook is easier to manage than a bait jig (even tho i cut the 6 pack bait jigs into 2 and have 3 hooks on each) as the fish aren't taking the jigs unless bait is on them, making re-baiting a long process. Still, i will perservere and hope luck comes my way.

Hi guys, i've read how people like to make some pre-made rigs at home like sliding snells, 2 hook rigs, paternosters etc and i intend to start making some myself. However, i would like to ask how you guys prefer to attach these rigs to ur main line? with a swivel? line to line knot like a double uni? I've noticed some bad rep with using snap swivels but i think they are quite convenient for quick changes. So what are your ideas?

No suggestions guys?

Hi raiders, i'm getting increasingly frustrated at not being able to get legal sized fish in port hacking. Fishing land based around any jetties and wharves i can get access to, i have not been able to land a legal sized anything in a while. Particularly chasing bream on soft plastics, (although i wouldn't mind getting anything else legal sized) there is either no decent fish where i go or i am just doing something wrong. I've casted many different soft plastics with varying jighead weights and sizes at fishy looking areas and all the results i have gotten are many missing tails on my plastics which i found out was from dam leather jackets. I consistently get average and sometimes very good casts right next to moored boats and their anchor ropes, pontoons and next to pylons on wharves, been snagged up plenty of times on weed and other assorted structure as well and have not had 1 decent hit yet. Tried different times of the day and tide but haven't made a dedicated early morning start during the change of the tide yet (have to wait for the tide to coincide with dawn and get my ass outta bed as well). I've been using gulps and squidgies in 2 and 3 inch varieties and the fish seem to respond better with the scented gulps (missing tails, small bite marks) compared to the non-existent results of the squidgies. I used 1/16 and 1/8 oz jigheads at first but the plastics seemed to be dropping very fast in the relatively shallow water (guessing 2-4m) so i use 1/32 and 1/24oz jigheads more often now with not much difference in success, only change is less casting distance. I have not tried using burley with soft plastics, have a 2-4kg 702 catana rod with shimano sedona FD 2500 spooled with 6lb fireline and usually use 8lb mono leader. I have tried toning down my retrieve to more subtle movements with the rod tip, also, should i allow slack line for the plastic to drop after the cast and also between twitches or keep a relatively taut line to feel for the takes? So i offer my situation for you fellow raiders to analyse and diagnose and hopefully i can get some advice that will steer me to some fish. Any suggestions on locations, structure to look out for, technique and anything in general is greatly appreciated P.S i don't know if this is the appropriate forum for this topic, admins please move it to another if its more appropriate.

kingfish at 2, massive trevally and flathead at 4 Jealousy has just gone off the charts

Hi fishraiders, this is a first time report but i have been cruising around this forum for a few months, absorbing as much information as i can about fishing. i'd like to firstly thank all the regulars for contributing many insightful and informative reports/guides for newbies like me to learn from, it was helped me a lot Well today i headed out to kurnell with a few friends fishing landbased from the groynes near the oil wharf on the high tide. Wasn't particular targetting any species but was hoping for some trevally or flathead as i was flicking some soft plastics around. Casted out some gulp minnows along the flats and after a while noticed 1 prominent hit but failed to properly hook up and i think the fish spat the hook. After a few more casts in the area i had hooked onto a decent fish and it took a few small runs b4 surfacing and i saw that it was a fairly large flatty, i reckon it was easily 50cm+ (my friends called it for 60cm but i'm conservative). i've seen flatties but haven't hooked up to one myself and was shocked when i saw this "monster" (for my standards) especially for my 1st flatty . As it surfaced it gave some headshakes on top of the water and advice from fellow fishraiders flashed across my mind, "keep its head down", this was also echoed from my friends and they rushed over to try and help me land it. However this was proving difficult as we had no net and the fish kept taking small runs whenever i tried to steer it towards my friend who was leaning out over the rocks to try and get a hold of the leader. Another friend promptly picked up the bucket and started hopping over the rocks as the flatty was being lifted out of the water and swung towards his direction. However the fish decided to give a few good headshakes which promptly sheared my 8lb mono leader and we watched in slow motion as it dropped down and slid into the water . there was disappointment all round but i was content in the fact that i had finally hooked onto a decent fish on a soft plastic and also off kurnell. The day started to quiet down after that with 1 more just legal flatty caught by my mate and also a foul hooked garfish on the soft plastic. i promptly rigged up another rod and cast the garfish out, but when i reeled it in after a few mins to check on it, it had already died. i casted it out again and watched in surprise as the garfish went a nice distance, "yay i thought... nice cast" but to my dismay i had realised that it had flown off the hook . All in all, not a bad day, one of our better results at kurnell and now i know that i can actually get a fish with soft plastics =D

Are there any places to pump nippers in port hacking besides maianbar?